Nick Ervinck – kunst gennem computer-aided design

Nick Ervinck: With a background in sculpture myself, I have always been fascinated by the way in which art has developed through the use of new materials and techniques. Somewhat disappointed by the lack of renewal in contemporary sculpture, I turned towards architecture and applied sciences, in order to find a new formal language generated by computer software, composing forms and designs that were unthinkable in all those years before.

This computer-aided designs (often referred to as ‘blob architecture’) resulting in organic, amoeba-shaped, bulging forms, were explored by the architect Greg Lynn in 1995. As a result of this new movement, architects started to remove themselves from the linear and corner-like box structures and instead turned to rounded, bulging shapes as structural forms. This constant tension between ‘box’ and ‘blob’ forms is crucial in my artistic practice.

Using copypaste techniques in a 3D software environment, I’m deriving images, shapes and textures from different sources: basilicas, corals, dinosaurs, cottages, Rorschach inkblots, Chinese rocks and trees, manga, twelfth-century floral wallpaper, anatomical parts,… Simultaneously, my work holds numerous references to the tradition of sculpture, such as the work of Hans Arp, Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth.

I often refer to a quote by Rem Koolhaas: “Where there is nothing, everything is possible. Where there is architecture, nothing (else) is possible.” I therefore try to let architecture and sculpture meet, and to explore the realm of the impossible by constantly pushing the limits of what we call ‘realistic’.